Texas added a fourth recruit to its class when in-state standout Jonathan Holmes announced at a Friday afternoon press conference that he is verbally committing to the Longhorns.

Scout.com ranks Holmes 69th nationally in the Class of 2011.

The 6-foot-8 power forward chose Texas over reported interest from Baylor, Purdue, and Texas A&M. He joins Myck Kabongo (No. 9 at Scout.com), Sheldon McClellan (No. 35 at Scout.com) and Julien Lewis (No. 89 at Scout.com) as prospects who plan to sign with Texas next month.

HOUSTON -- It's been 11 days since Oregon fired Ernie Kent, and there's still no coach in place.

But that could change soon if the school moves away from its top candidates.

It's no secret that Oregon -- backed by the money of Nike founder Phil Knight -- would love to make a big hire like Mark Few, Jamie Dixon or Billy Donovan, but that seems unlikely at this point because Few and Dixon have little interest in leaving Gonzaga and Pittsburgh -- remember, either could've had the Arizona job last year -- and anything west of the Mississippi River is unfamiliar territory (and probably too far from home) for Donovan, a New York native who has won two national titles at Florida.

That leaves the next tier of candidates headlined by Texas A&M's Mark Turgeon and Minnesota's Tubby Smith.

Prediction: Oregon will land one of those two.

It's worth noting only Texas A&M seems willing to fight for its coach.

"We will make every effort to make sure Mark Turgeon remains our coach," Texas A&M athletics director Bill Byrne, coincidentally also a former Oregon athletics director, told The Register-Guard. "And Ducks who remember me will know how hard I'll work to do that. … My [job] is to keep Mark Turgeon as the coach of the Aggies."

AP poll: I, like most of you, thought Texas A&M might slip when Derrick Roland shattered his leg just before Christmas. But it didn't happen, and now the Aggies enter the Big 12 tournament with a 21-8 record featuring wins over Baylor, Texas, Clemson, Oklahoma State and Missouri (and zero losses outside of the top 50).

So we can argue where to rank Texas A&M if you want.

I have them 18th.

A little higher or lower is fine.

But there's no way to reasonably conclude that the Aggies don't belong in the Top 25 based on their body of work, and yet eight AP voters left Mark Turgeon's team off their ballots, among them Scott Johnson of the Daily Herald in Washington. Scott omitted Texas A&M but included California despite the fact that Cal has A) an inferior RPI, B) one fewer win, C) one more loss, D) four fewer top 50 wins, and E) four more losses outside of the top 50.

So I ask: How could anybody rank Cal but not Texas A&M?

It's insane.

But it's fine because without insanity there would be no Poll Attacks.

Coaches poll: I'm not going to spend too much energy defending Texas because the Longhorns have been disappointing, and they seem headed toward nowhere significant. But do you really believe there are 25 better teams in the country? With five wins over schools projected to make the NCAA tournament -- including Pittsburgh, Michigan State and Texas A&M -- and just two losses outside of the top 50, Texas clearly has one of the best 25 bodies of work, and it's not like Rick Barnes' team been losing one bad game after another.

The Longhorns have lost four times in the past month.

They lost to Kansas.

They lost at Missouri.

They lost at Texas A&M.

They lost at Baylor.

Obviously, that shows they aren't the nationally prominent team everybody once believed them to be, but it doesn't mean they aren't a legitimate Top 25 team. There's a middle ground, you know? And Texas belongs in that middle ground.

Are the Longhorns great?

Clearly not.

But there aren't 25 better teams.

Which is why I can't understand how UT only got seven points in the Coaches poll.

Oregon officials have predictably decided to end Ernie Kent's tenure as head basketball coach, CBS affiliate KVAL reported late Saturday. The station cited sources and said Kent's termination will take effect immediately following Oregon's final game.

According to the report, a formal announcement is expected in the next 48 hours.

Kent is in his 12th season at the school.

The Ducks finished 10th in the Pac-10 last season and ninth this season.

Kent and Oregon athletic director Mike Bellotti both declined comment on the report late Saturday.

Gonzaga's Mark Few is an obvious candidate to replace Kent, but he's passed on the opportunity to move to Oregon multiple times -- including after last season -- and would likely do so again barring a change of heart. One source told CBSSports.com that some Oregon officials (and power-brokers at Nike) are enamored with Jay Wright, but nobody thinks the Villanova coach would take the Pac-10 job.

Texas A&M's Mark Turgeon is one established coach who will be a likely candidate.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Devin Ebanks made his first appearance of the season Friday, entering West Virginia's game against Texas A&M with 15:46 remaining in the first half. The score was tied 11-11 when Ebanks checked-in.

Ebanks -- who had missed the Mountaineers' first four games for what coach Bob Huggins described as "personal reasons" -- promptly made his first two field goal attempts, one from the right wing, the other from the left baseline. He finished with 14 points and nine rebounds in West Virginia's 73-66 victory.

The Mountaineers will play either Minnesota or Portland late Sunday in the 76 Classic title game.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- I'll be spending the next four days less than a mile from Disneyland, where the eight-team 76 Classic has somehow put together the best field of any early season tournament given how all eight schools involved have reasonable expectations to make the NCAA tournament.

Butler is the Horizon favorite, Long Beach State is the Big West favorite, and West Virginia, Clemson, Minnesota, Texas A&M and UCLA are each expected to, at the very least, earn an at-large bid. The only 76 Classic participant not in my preseason Projecting the Field is Portland. But the Pilots are 3-0 and widely viewed as Gonzaga's biggest threat in the West Coast Conference. They already own a win over Oregon. They could get their second victory over a Pac-10 team Thursday when they close the first day of action with a game against Ben Howland's Bruins.

"If you're a collegebasketball fan, this is a great time of the year," said Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon. "This is a fantastic field. When we [agreed to be a part of it], we knew it was going to be a good field. But they've added a couple of teams since then. There are four teams in the Top 25, and we're not one of them, and we like to think we're pretty good. So it's a great field."

The four Top 25 teams in the field are No. 8 West Virginia, No. 12 Butler, No. 19 Clemson and No. 22 Minnesota. All five power-conference schools involved (West Virginia, Clemson, Minnesota, Texas A&M and UCLA) plus Butler made the NCAA tournament last season. Click this link to check out the bracket.

MaxPreps.com ranks Irving as the No. 19 prospect in the Class of 2010 while two other reputable recruiting sites have him in the top 10. He's a 6-foot-1 point guard from New Jersey. In addition to Duke, Irving is also officially considering Texas A&M and Kentucky.

Irving visits Duke: Kyrie Irving, ranked fifth in the Class of 2010 by Scout.com, visited Duke, then Tweeted about it. "Duke official was great! I enjoyed every single second," he wrote. "Everything there fits me and is right for me...you never know what will happen ." Duke has long been considered the favorite to land Irving, a 6-foot-1 point guard from New Jersey. Still, Texas A&M is among the schools hanging around, primarily because Aggie assistant Scott Spinelli was college roommates with Irving's father, Drederick Irving.

Selby narrows list: Josh Selby, famous for decommitting from Tennessee in July, has narrowed his list of potential schools to six, and UT is not one of them. The final six are Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Baylor, Miami and Syracuse. All indications are that Selby -- a combo guard ranked 14th in the Class of 2010 by MaxPreps.com -- will make a final decision in the Spring.

USC gains fifth Class of 2010 pledge: Kevin O'Neill accepted a commitment from Maurice Jones, according to Scout.com's Evan Daniels. Jones is a 5-7 point guard who reportedly averaged 28 points and 13 assists last season in high school. He's the fifth Class of 2010 prospect to commit to USC despite an ongoing NCAA investigation.